































.0« 








^ *•.,■>' ,■«. 













JUSTIFICATION 

A Philosophic Phantasy 



JOHN H. WHITE 




RICHARD G. BADGER 
BOSTON 



Copyright, 191 3, by Richard G. Badger 



All Rights Reserved 






The Gorham Press, Boston, U. S. A. 



MAR -9 1914 



//. 



If-* 



©CIA36280e 



CONTENTS 



CANTO FIRST 

PAGE 

The Incantation 9 

CANTO SECOND 
Evolution 18 

CANTO THIRD 
Dissolution 49 

CANTO FOURTH 
The Reunion 63 

Notes 69 



JUSTIFICATION 

A Philosophic Phantasy 



INVOCATION 

O ! Spirit of Poesy, bruised by the cage 
Devised for thy lodge by a Mammon-ruled 

age, 
A kind hand, though rude, strikes the strings 

of thy lute, 
And prays but a note from thy lips pale and 

mute. 
O I Lend to my numbers, inconstant and crude. 
One tone to betoken thy sanctioning mood, 
Though it be but to quicken the sad strings to 

throb 
With the echoing pulse of a languishing sob. 



PRELUDE 

A tale so strange I hesitate to tell, 
Because I fear you'll say, " 'twas but a dream " ; 
But if it was a dream, then whence befell 
My tattered, miry clothes? And can you deem 
That while I slept, the lacerating spines 
Intruded, unobserved, my smarting flesh? 
Then, too, the boy's narration — but my lines. 
If fact or dream, give worthy theme for you 
to dream afresh. 



CANTO FIRST 

The Incantation 



The eye of Ursa scarce had quailed 
Before the purple shafts that paled 
The east when, with my prattling child, 
I left the town and trod the wild, 
Familiar path that deftly wound 
To where the verdant mountain, crowned 
With stately cedars, slowly rose, 
A laggard from a night's repose, 
Above the mists that round It spread. 
Like downy covers of a bed. 



II 

An hour of rugged, healthful toil 

Achieved the crest, and there the soil 

Held forth a sumptuous array 

Of treasures for our holiday; 

The cedar groves were interspersed 

With sun-kissed glades where, gently nursed 

By moss, the pinks and bluets vied 

To have their dewy faces dried 

In the slant rays of welcome light 

That broke the mystic spell of night; 

The dog-wood trees, as if in play, 

Strewed snowy petals in our way; 

While farther on the fancy sped 

Down unfrequented paths that led 

Through fragrant spruce and hemlock dells 

Where columbine and immortelles 

And staid arbutus smiled and sighed 

In every nook where sunshine pried : 

It was a place where one might find 

The balm to soothe a wounded mind, 

For poignant care must here give place 

To melancholy, and all trace 

Of melancholy soon must be 

But an unpainful reverie. 



lO 



1 



Ill 

Through kindred scenes we rambled on, 
Until the noon had come and gone, 
Then, resting on a sheltered ledge. 
We willingly redeemed a pledge 
To hunger, while our discourse led 
To gnomes and fairies, till we spread 
A luster of romance around 
Each riven rock and mossy mound. 
At length the boy, with glance acute, 
Said, *' Father, are the fairies mute 
' In these dull days ; and are they chained 
' Within the mountain and restrained 
' By the great wizard that you now 
' Named Science ; or do they still bow 
' Before their queen and romp and play 
' Upon the turf when the last ray 

* Of daylight has resigned the wood? 

* Do they still meet, in merry mood, 

' To weave their May-poles, dance and sing, 
' Cut capers queer, and sway, and swing, 
' And naughtily confound the wight 
'Who ventures near their fire-fly light?" 



ri 



IV 

I answered, " Child, I scarcely know*; 
*' But I recall that long ago 
*' I sat, a child, where you do now, 
" And heard my father tell me how 
*' His grandsire, many years before, 
" Had told him that who-e'er would pour, 
'' Upon the fist-shaped rock which lies 
*' Just where that crooked pathway dies, 
*' A glass of water from the spring 
'' That issues from its base, and sing 
'' These mystic words would surely see 
*' All that a rock could show to such as he.'* 



12 



"O! Hard hand of Greed that hast stifled, so 

long, 
" The spirit of Beauty and Freedom and Song, 
** With thy festering cities, distempered with 

trade, 
** Thy pestilent lodgings whence Hope shrinks 

dismayed, 
" Thy grindings and grudgings, thy whine and thy 

growl, 
** Thy cankering factories, fetid and foul, 
" Where the soul of the toiler is brayed by thy 

rasp; 
"OI Hand of the tyrant, unclasp! Unclasp! " 



13 



VI 

When relish whets the tyro's ear, 
To learn, for him, is but to hear; 
Scarce thrice repeated was the strain 
Before It found complete refrain 
From the boy's lips, and soon his hall 
Grew faint and fainter, down the trail, 
While I sat toying with a fern, 
Expectant of his prompt return. 



14 



VII 

The boy's voice hardly failed the breeze 
Before my mind was ill at ease. 
Our vanity can find no ruse 
Too weak or ludicrous to use — 
Too superficial or too queer — 
When it would make a truce with fear; 
Hence 'twas, my mind, at first, employed 
The pretext to be but annoyed: 
Plague on his loitering steps," I said, 
I'll see what mischief claims his head," 
But quickening pulse and hastening stride 
Betrayed the fear I fain would hide. 
Nor was I long without a cause. 
For a huge pair of murky jaws. 
Born of the clouds, devoured the sun, 
And gave the air that heavy dun 
In which the imps of fury form 
Their swirling ranks to lead the storm; 
And from the nubilous monster's throat 
There came a resonant, raucous note. 
The snarl of a colossal beast 
That fiercely gluts a grewsome feast. 
My fear, now unrestrained, made pace. 
But all too fast, for soon all trace 
Of pathway vanished, and instead, 
A tangled thicket round me spread. 

15 



VIII 

In all the pangs the mind can know, ' 
What can exceed the bitter woe 
Of parent fond, whose lapse of care 
Has meshed his child in danger's lair? 
Reluctantly my thoughts revert 
To those dread hours when, fast begirt 
By brake and fen that beast would shun, 
I struggled to regain my son; 
From bog to bush I madly ran, 
Too frantic to pursue a plan; 
I loudly called the boy by name. 
And from the deeper swamp there came 
Derisive croaklngs of the frogs, 
As though the tenants of the bogs 
Mocked my distraction; slime and ooze 
Besmeared my clothes and hid my shoes; 
Anon some huge and hideous snake 
Retreated slowly through the brake 
With darting tongue and glittering eye, 
But half disposed to let me by; 
A myriad stinging gnats and flies 
Tortured my flesh and bleared my eyes; 
My clothes, to tatters rent and torn, 
Gave scant protection from the thorn 
And sedge that bit as though they bore 
A sentient craving for my gore. 

i6 



In heedless frenzy on I rushed, 

With waning strength and spirits crushed, 

For deeper, deeper in the maze 

My staggering feet led, till a haze 

O'erspread my vision; but blest hope. 

Which lives while it has power to grope 

Sustained me, and at length I found 

My feet were treading firmer ground; 

But scarce a moment ere a root 

Of some great tree engaged my foot 

And threw me heavily to earth. 

While croakings of mordacious mirth 

Seemed to pervade the air. I rose, 

With painful struggle, to a pose 

Erect, and struck, in fancied fray. 

The tree that seemed to bar my way; 

My trembling knees sank to their fall, 

I feebly, vainly tried to crawl, 

And then oblivion wrapped me in her pall. 



17 



CANTO SECOND 

Evolution 

IX 

A chill that penetrated to the soul, 
A cold, gray, slowly dissipating mist, 
Bewildered senses struggling to the realm 
Of consciousness across a bridge of dreams, 
A warming ray of sunshine on my face. 
And then I comprehended it was morn. 
Soon as my pained flesh would obey my will, 
I raised my form sufficiently to find 
That I was resting on a tongue of shale 
Which thrust itself into a gloomy slough; 
Before me lay a dark and stagnant pool — 
So dark and stagnant that the hand of fate 
Might e'en have written on its vapid face. 
Lifeless remain thou through eternity"; 
Yet, as I gazed, my eyes seemed to divine 
The presence of a tiny speck, too small 
E'en for a microscopic eye to see. 
That trembled in a scintillating ray. 
Fraught with a message from another sphere; 
It hovered, for a moment, in the air; 
Then settled on the surface of the pool, 
And a faint quiver — a responsive thrill — 
Announced the impregnation of a world. 
i8 



It seemed that countless ages, in their turn, 

Passed in review, before my wondering eyes, 

And ever varying were the dreadful scenes 

Enacted on the realistic stage 

That lay before me: a chaotic mass 

Of squirming, writhing, wriggling creatures, 

scarce 
Distinguishable from the medium 
In which they moved, devoid of impulse save 
To shun the strong and to devour the weak. 
Gave place in my attention, by degree. 
To denizens distinct, which ever changed 
In form and habit as they multiplied 
In numbers, and as constantly increased 
In size and strength and cunning, for not one 
Might long exist, save it could safely hide, 
Victoriously fight or swiftly flee. 
At length one bold inhabitant arose 
Above the surface, for a moment gazed 
Upon the upper world, then as in pain 
Withdrew; yet perseveringly renewed 
Its efforts to invade the new domain; 
And it was joined by others of its kind. 
Till some, by great persistence, lay, at last, 
Laboriously panting on the shore. 



19 



XI 

'Twere tedious to your ears, If I should tell 
A hundredth measure of the forms diverse 
Through which the Increase of these beings 

passed, 
Or give the barest outline of the strife, 
Perpetual and awful, that ensued 
Their advent; let It be enough to say 
That cunning ever triumphed over strength. 
And many a monster of prodigious bulk 
Yielded Its carcass to th' enrolling rocks, 
A monument to Its fatuity. 
The wondrous metamorphosis progressed 
Until one genus banished or subdued 
All others, and I marveled much to see 
How nearly human had the victors grown; 
Save for their dwarfish stature and the long ^ 
And bushy hair that drooped, from beetling 

brows. 
Athwart their eyes, thus tempering the light 
To sight that shunned the sun, they might have 

passed. 
In proper garb, unnoticed, on our streets: 
Deep was my satisfaction, for I thought 
The sickening horrors now would have an end; 
But futile wish, for In the self-same breath, 
Dissensions rent the new community. 
And once again the welkin groaned with war. 
20 



XII 

The wars that now convulsed this sad domain 
Were founded on contentions most absurd; 
At first, indeed, the monstrous arrogance 
Of the chief villains hardly deigned excuse 
For their careers of murder and rapine; 
But later it became the shallow vogue 
To throw a sop to conscience by pretence 
Of service to religion, and I saw 
Full many a blood-steeped rogue proclaimed a 

saint. 
When that the sanctimonious mask was worn 
So threadbare it would not deceive a babe, 
Hypocrisy devised new artifice 
By sounding in sonorous, brazen tones 
Such terms as " Glory," " Patriot," and 

" Fame," 
Thereby attracting to foul enterprise 
Adventurers and youths who did not know 
The meaning of the words; for few the wars 
In which th' aggressors waged a righteous 

cause ; 
And always near the root there might be found 
Some blatant dolt, besotted with the dream 
To win the shallow plaudits of his kind, 
And deeper still, the knave who played for pelf. 



21 



XIII 

Had these proclivities to strife involved 

The welfare only of the hordes who fought, 

With less regret the story might be told ; 

But heavily the burden fell on those 

Who labored to support the parasites 

Of court and camp, and to provide the tools 

Of their disgusting trade; the intervals 

Inaptly titled " periods of peace " 

Were e'en but groaning nightmares of distrust. 

Spent in the feverish making of the teeth. 

The teeth! O, that the memory might fade! 

Attachments of most hideous design. 

Made at enormous toil, to fit the jaws 

Like great, protruding fangs, were not alone 

Contrived to tear an adversary's flesh. 

But were provided with peculiar pipes 

That poisoned, and with violence expelled, 

The spittle of the wearers, and gave vent, 

With each discharge, to a most deafening 

noise. 
E*en on their fraternizing festivals. 
Absurd as it may seem, it was the rule 
To send a gang of rowdies, thus equipped. 
To fill the functions of an embassy. 
And then the friendly spitting that ensued 
Was scarce more nauseating than the foul 
And fulsome flattery that was exchanged. 

22 



I 



XIV 

The social status of the leading clans 

Was much the same, and I need but describe 

The traits of one in order to portray 

The character approximate of all, 

And to this end, I would again direct 

Your fancy to the erst depicted pool : 

Since first I gazed upon it, this had changed 

In color to a most unsightly hue ; 

The basic pigment, truly, was a bright 

And glittering yellow, but it was imbued 

With most abominable filth, and streaked, 

In many places, with a crimson tinge : 

The cause was soon apparent, for by far 

The greater number of the wretched tribe 

Were wallowing and wrestling in the slough. 

Their constant struggling caused the soil to 

void 
A yellow substance which they greatly prized; 
The erubescent tinge was due to blood, 
For some had such a passion for the dross 
That none might safely thwart it. As a rule 
The gain was least for those who deepest 

delved ; 
For 'twas a practice, prevalent though queer, 
For those who could, to climb upon the backs 
Of others, and to hold, with cunning skill, 

23 



The vantage, thus secured, to quickly seize 
The yellow morsels, soon as they appeared 
Upon the surface. There were numbers yoked 
To curious platforms, fashioned to support 
Less numbers, who directed those beneath; 
The findings were avidiously seized 
By those above, save for a modicum 
Most grudgingly dispensed among the crew 
Of waders. This was but the simpler form 
Of the invention ; the perfected plan 
Involved a series of stages raised 
In pyramidic fashion, with each tier 
Supported by a nether tier of dwarfs. 
Each paying tribute to the tier above. 



24 



XV 

Let it be said, the queer commodity, 

When gained and used in sanitary ways, 

Served many salutary purposes ; 

But in the main it worked but to befoul 

Those who possessed it, and the cause was 

clear: 
Some vile perversion of the intellect 
Led those above to take a beastly pride 
In casting offal on their kind beneath, 
And as the surface of the pool was thus 
The nethermost receptacle, it grew 
A frightful, putrefying bed of filth: 
It followed, from the universal law 
Of action and reaction, that the fruits 
Of this corruption must be manifest 
In the much valued product of the pond; 
And never was the rule exemplified 
More clearly, for each yellow particle 
Was permeated with impurity. 
E'en as 'twas found and taken from the slough; 
But as it slowly rose from tier to tier 
By devious and dirty routes, it gained 
New nastiness on each successive stage; 
And as the pigmies found their chief delight 
In vulgarly bedizening themselves 



25 



with the polluted stuff, it could but be 
That when they met, as frequently they did, 
For purpose of an emulous display, 
The clouds revolted at the sickening stench. 



26 



XVI 

In such an order of society, 

You may infer, affairs political 

Presented but a periscope of fraud 

And despicable, thinly veiled intrigue : 

There was a structure, cumbrous and grotesque, 

That might be fairly termed a replica 

Of the rude pyramid I have described. 

On this were proudly perched the dwarfs who 

made, 
Interpreted and partially enforced 
The guiding rules of conduct for the tribe. 
Great was the rivalry for place on this, 
And most peculiarly was it attained: 
The building was. In Its interior plan, 
A labyrinth of winding galleries, 
Dipping to dismal depths, 'ere they again 
Turned upward, Intersecting, forking, writhed 
In convolutions Intricate; through these 
The skilled aspirants passed, in their advance 
From stage to stage. Your wonder will in- 
crease 
When I relate that, though the tunnel walls 
Were, at their outer termini, of size 
Sufficient to permit the candidates 
To stand erect, they speedily converged 
As they led Inward, till the passagers ^ 

27 



Might go no farther, saving they would crawl 
Upon their stomachs; wriggling thus, they 

passed 
Through secret chambers, tenanted by vile, 
Misshapen creatures who at times peered 

forth 
Through crevasses, or skulked the outer stage 
In the deep shadows, but abhorred the sun. 
Sometimes these tenants of the under world, 
In fierce dispute, unguardedly revealed 
A part of the abominable rites 
That were performed within the covert dens 
When the vermicular solicitant 
Presented his petition for their aid; 
But lest the narrative offend your ears, 
Let it suffice to say that it was not 
The depth of his debasement that he placed 
His abject neck beneath the scurvy feet 
Of the ignoble masters of these haunts; 
And when he reached the much desired place 
Thus tortuously gained, his every act 
Was ordered to the liking of these foul, 
Benighted monsters : Yet his fealty 
Was seemingly rewarded, for anon 
Some stealthy emissary from the pits 
Brought bounty that he stealthily received. 
My curiosity was keen to know 
The nature of the prizes that were bought 

28 



At such stupendous cost — What treasure 

rare 
Could compensate him for the sacrifice 
That he had made — till presently, It chanced 
That giver and receiver met to make 
Their surreptitious transfer, unaware 
Of alien eyes, so near me that I saw 
The substance that was eagerly received; 
And, Pah I 'Twas but the same old gaudery, 
And stinking higher than it stank before. 



29 



XVII 

My tale would slander this unhappy race, 
Should I neglect to state the hopeful fact 
That many, In their poor, myopic way, 
Sought, not alone, their own substantial good. 
But tried to lead their fellows from the slough. 
It happened e'en, at times, tliat one of these 
Attained to high position on the pile 
Devoted to affairs of government: 
This was, for most part, when the pseudo- 
ship 
Was perilously mired, and might move 
To extrication only In a straight 
And simple path that was beyond the ken 
Of those whose serpentine propensities 
Had brought disaster to th' unwieldy craft; 
In this predicament all classes turned — 
Some grudgingly, some gladly — to invest 
The management in one whose trodden path 
Betrayed no sinuous dexterity; 
And though the wrigglers soon regained con- 
trol, 
I fancied that, in some minute degree. 
Their conduct was less shameful than before. 



30 



XVIII 

Nor were there wanting some whose thoughts 

were turned 
To lofty theme and sentiment refined; 
I must, indeed, relate how one drew near, 
And In the notion that he was alone. 
Gave tender passion rhythmical relief 
In well voiced song of human sentiment. 
In such a state of mind as I had reached. 
Naught could amaze me, so I marveled not 
To hear him voice his love lay in my tongue ; 
His words, if memory serves me well, were 

these: 



31 



XIX 

" O, happy wind, by fate consigned 

" To court her lustrous tresses 

" And grace her cheek with tints that speak 

" The wealth of thy caresses, 

** If she should sigh when thou art nigh, 

" O, tell her, in replying, 

" Of one in pain who may not deign 

" His heart the stint of sighing." 



32 



" O, favored moon, that know'st the boon, 

" When sleep her soul embraces, 

" To softly vest her tranquil breast 

" With shadowy, shimmering laces, 

" O, bid her dream, while there you beam, 

** Nor scornfully to deem It, 

" The dream that fills and fondly thrills 

*' A soul that dares not dream it." 



33 



XXI 

A tender song that greets uncultured ears 
Is like the pollen of some precious flower 
Consigned in eager fondness to the winds, 
But wafted to a meretricious couch, 
Produces but a bitter, bastard fruit: 
And this, 'ere long, the plaintive singer learned; 
For scarce his lips had closed, 'ere he was 

hemmed, 
On every side, by creatures from the pool, 
Who mocked and mauled him to a sore degree : 
My blood was now aroused, and striding forth, 
I gained their midst, and prayed that they 

would tell 
What cause they had to treat the victim thus. 



34 



XXII 

The glances that I met showed less surprise 
Than anger, at my entrance on the scene. 
At length one blinking fellow who, It seemed, 
Was vested with authority, stepped forth. 
And thus addressed me : " Stranger, you em- 
ploy 
" Bold language, and a bolder tone, for one 
" Who questions me, but as It Is my mood 
" To speak with you, the scamp may be our 

theme. 
" Know then, that he has been suspected long 
" Of holding converse with our enemies; 
*' Hence we have watched him, and his recent 

words 
" Have proved his guilt, for can it be affirmed 
*' That his late jargon had a sense at all, 
" Unless It was intended to convey 
" A cryptic message to some lurking ear? 
" But If innocuous meaning can be shown, 
*' By any skill or chance, to fit his words, 
" They, ne'ertheless condemn him, for 'tis clear 
" That if naught else of reason they contain, 
" This much they publish; that he has a dream. 
*' Now, in this realm, to dream is to incur 
*' Most painful penalty, unless the dream 
*' Be well approved on the authority 

35 



** Of ancient writ; but his, you will observe, 
" Is by his words, a dream he dares not dream, 
" And though his lines, at first sight, would im- 
port 
" That 'tis a dream undreamt, such stuff involves 
'* Absurdity too gross to be conceived; 
** And thus 'tis patent that the twaddling ass 
" Has dreamt already, and must be condemned.'' 



36 



XXIII 

This bombast was delivered In a tone 
That well accorded with the words, and both 
Convinced me there was little to be gained 
By argument directed to the point; 
Yet I could not forsake the luckless wretch 
Without an effort made in his behalf; 
Therefore I said: '' Good sir, I well perceive 
*' That 'twere, indeed, presumptuous on my part 
" To match my wit with logic such as yours; 
" Yet it can happen that a mind astute 
" May lose the truth amid the subtleties 
" Of its invention, and I dare assert 
** That I can show a meaning to his words, 
'* Devoid of the great guilt that you Impute; 
" His canticle was one of love, and hence 
" Should not be harshly judged, for when the 

heart 
" Is touched by hand invisible and caused 
" To throb with silent music, can the tongue 
" Add aught but discord to th' ecstatic strain? 
'' I pray you, then, let Mercy have a place 
" In your wise counsel, and your judgment 
grace." 



37 



XXIV • 

E'en as I spoke, I noted that his rage 
Increased with every word, and when I ceased, 
His fury was, at first, too violent 
For speech, but in a moment he found voice 
For this tirade: "Why dolt! The culprit's 
verse 
" Would rank as courtly diction, if appraised 
" Beside your shallow drivel. I will pass, 
" With scarce a comment, such nugacities 
" As ' silent music ' ; but it grates to hear 
" Such words as ' love ' and ' mercy ' from your 

lips. 
" Prate not to me of these, till you can show 
" That they have any place in Nature's plan. 
" Direct your vision to the smallest drop 
" Of water that subtends the rays which pierce 
" The object glass, and there behold a world 
" Of struggling, fighting creatures, where the 

weak 
"Live only while they can evade the strong; 
" Conceive, if well you can, the constant strife 
" Beneath the wave, where myriad monsters prey 
" On lesser monsters, and in turn, yield up 
" Their own existence to some greater jaws; 



38 



" See how the same rule holds through all the 

grades 
" Of bird and beast and reptile; mark, e'en, how 
** The tree is throttled by th' Insidious vine ; 
" And at the apex of this pyramid 
" Of cruelty reigns, most insatiate, 
*' Tyrannical and terrible, the man, 
" Who preys on all beneath; the deep is dragged, 
" The forest searched, the farthest plain is swept 
" To gather victims for each transient whim 
" Of his voracious appetite; the lamb 
*' Is wrested from the matrix to be flayed 
" To grace Milady's cloak ; yet unappeased 
*' By these oblations, he takes up his arms 
"Against his brother, robs and cheats his kind; 
" Nay more, by folly and intemperance 
** And gluttony he hastens the decay 
" Of his own paltry body, and at last 
" The tottering, whining dotard drags the hulk 
" Before his God, and offers it in trade 
" For Indissoluble felicity. 
" Then tell me by what warrant I must hear 
" Such words as * love ' and * mercy * from your 

lips." 



39 



XXV 

Oft I had pondered on this very theme, 

But never had the truth oppressed my mind 

With vividness so painful as I felt 

Beneath his tongue; then too I was depressed 

In spirit by my late experience. 

What wonder, then, that this was my reply: 
*' Your just rebuke, sir, to my wretched kind 
" Is doubly merited, because it falls 
" On one well qualified to testify 
"The truth of the impeachment; yet my words 
" Shall be indemnified, and you may find 
" The warrant in my death, for I resolve 
" That I no more shall be an instrument 
" Of such iniquity. One duty claims 
" That for a season I must still exist : 
" A day, or ages, since, I know not which, 
" For time forsakes my poor bewildered brain, 
" I lost my child while wandering near your 

realm ; 
" Mayhap you are a parent, sir, and know 
*' I cannot die till I have found my boy 
" And placed him in his mother's arms; I go 
" But to perform this service ; when 'tis done 
" I shall return, and should it please your mood 
** To be my witness, I will gladly show 
" How man can free himself from Nature's 
gyves." 

40 



XXVI 

A burst of caustic laughter introduced 
His next invective, which continued thus: 
*' Thrice muddled fool ! Are you, indeed, so 
skilled 

* In knavery that you can cheat the worm? 

* Or are you purblind to the irony 

' That Nature, in this subtle farce called life, 
' Provides for her amusement? Know you not 

* That from your dust a thousand forms must 

creep 
' To struggle, suffer, generate, and die, 
' Through countless years, to form another man 
' Or different creature that may please her 

whim? 
' But let our quarrel cease: If I was harsh, 

* 'Twas that you tried me with your stubborn bent 

* Against the evidence on every hand, 

' That Nature yields rewards for those alone 

* With strength and skill to take them. Brother I 

Come 

* And join our busy throng; in this great pool 

* That lies before you, glistening in the sun, 

' Much honor and much substance may be gained; 

* Your wit is ready and your shoulders broad; 



41! 



" These, with my patronage, must soon insure 
" Our mutual renown ; and for a pledge 
" I grant this rogue a pardon. Brother, come 
" And wallow in the shining, yellow slough.'' 



42 



XXVII 

His wrath had chafed me, but his sudden change 
To fawning was well nigh unbearable, 
And I had need of all my fortitude 
To answer in this wise: " I thank you, sir, 

** For your kind offer, which I must refuse; 

'* I have no relish for yon fulvous pond; 

" Too long, already, I have tarried here; 

** I must, at once, go hence to seek my child.'* 



43 



XXVIII • 

My pen Is all too feeble to describe 

The snarling cynicism of his tone 

As he rejoined: ^' Nay, not so fast, my friend; 
" Your obligations rest upon your mind 
"Too lightly; surely you do not forget 
*' How recently you entered in my debt 
" By a request which, on condition named, 
*' I have conceded; now the scamp has gone, 
*' And you would break your bond? Nay, here 

you stay, 
" And cool your haste, for you must join the 

throng 
" That delves and fights in yonder fertile pool." 



44 



XXIX 

My frenzy would no longer be restrained, 
And all my nerves were quivering as I cried : 
" Foul Minim! Is your moral atmosphere 
'* So hopelessly Impervious to a ray 
*' Of sympathy that you would thwart the quest 
** Of a devoted parent for his child? 
" E'en stunted as you are, your body shames 
" Your mind. And was It you, vile Mannlkin, 
" Who stripped my soul, not for the wish to heal 
" Its sad deformities, but that you craved 
" To jeer the nakedness? And was it you 
** Who would persuade me to forsake my faith 
" In the benignity of Nature's plan? 
" Know then, that you have overshot your mark; 
" For in the moment when you dragged my 

thoughts 
" Well nigh to the base level of your own, 
" You took a step too much when you essayed 
" To teach me that the endless suffering 
*' Which permeates all life is a device 
** To please the fancy of some fickle God. 
" Learn, croaking pigmy, that delight in pain 
" Of others is the joy of abject minds, 
" And not the delectation of a God; 
** And there is that within me which declares 
" That I was given an existence here 

45 



** For good. Learn, also, that when yOu display 
" Your total want of sympathy, you prove 
" I have what you have not; nor would I sell 
** For all the contents of your loathsome pool. 
" E'en if your words were true, and life had 

naught 
'' Of purpose but to alternate with death 
" In endless round, without ulterior plan, 
*' 'Twould be my wish to lay my dying hopes 
" Amid the flowers on some mountain height, 
" And linger near them, 'neath the chanting stars, 
" Where pitying winds might soothe the parting 

pangs, 
" But ne'er to cast them on the filthy scum 
" Of a detestable, polluted slough. 
" And now attend my words, for they embrace 
** The only logic that your mind can grasp: 
" If I must fight, your skull shall be the first 
" To feel my fury I Goblin, stand aside ! " 



46 



XXX 

My eyes were on a bludgeon that lay near; 
But he divined my purpose, and himself 
Secured it; but to my intense surprise, 
He tossed it, with contempt, into the pond; 
Then turning to his cohorts, who stood near, 
Awaiting, with impatience, for a sign 
To seize me, he gave vent, in croaking tones. 
To this command; '' Remain you where you 
stand ; 
" This braggart's insolence has been too great 
" For his subjection to appease my wrath, 
*' Unless my own hands be the instrument 
'* Of his abasement." Then, with agile bound. 
He threw himself upon me, and with hands 
That gripped like talons of some frightful bird. 
He grasped my throat; I bore him back and 

rained 
A storm of blows upon his upturned face; 
But tenser, ever tenser, grew his grip. 
And weaker, ever weaker, I became. 
He noted that my strength was ebbing fast. 
And that he might the better gloat, he brought 
His face, with hideous leer, quite close to mine. 
My loathing summoned all my waning strength 
To thrust his visage from me, and in this 
My hands were guided, by some Providence, 

47 



To his overhanging brows, which beiifg thus ^ 
Pushed upward, suddenly exposed his eyes 
To the full glare of the refulgent light. 
I felt his grasp relax; I saw him sink. 
With groan that I half pitied, to the Earth; 
My senses swirled ; my body swayed ; the ground 
Seemed to retreat beneath my trembling feet; 
And " 'twas the evening of the second day." 



48 



CANTO THIRD 

Dissolution * 

XXXI 

If you have rested In some quiet nook 

In a bedlmmed cathedral, and have watched 

The cloistered rays of light demurely stray 

From some stained window, and serenely creep 

The tesselated floor, until a deep 

And tranquil reverie has claimed your mind, 

While o'er you, inobtruslvely, there stole 

A trembling murmur from the organ loft 

In farther chapel, whispering its way 

So faintly, softly, through the columned aisles, 

It seemed to find an entrance to your soul 

Without the intervention of your ear. 

You have been near to Peace ; and you may gain 

Some faint conception of my state of mind 

In the first moments that my consciousness 

Next claimed me; for it seemed that I could 

feel 
Sweet strains of music that I did not hear. 



49 



XXXII 

At length my eyes unclosed, and I perceived — 

And wondered only that I wondered not — 

That I was couched upon a nebulous 

And far extending cloud that stretched away, 

With undulating surface, bathed by light 

As of some golden sunset, till my sight 

Sank with it in the deeper vistas where 

A veil ethereal was interposed 

To screen profane intrusion: this I saw 

Before I moved, but when I turned my eyes, 

My raptured vision rested on a form 

Which I, perforce, must liken unto that 

Of woman, for thus only can I give 

Some feeble portrait of its grace and charm ; 

But, if I may be pardoned for the words. 

Which part my lips with reverence to her sex. 

No woman e'er could be so beautiful 

As this sweet, radiant creature. Yet my heart 

Grew heavy as I looked, for I recalled 

How despicably unfit I must be 

For such a presence; and my pain increased 

When I beheld the creature turn her steps 

Towards me, for I felt that I must give 

A warning to avoid me, and at first 

My voice could find no utterance. At length, 

In agitated accents, I called forth: 

50 



*' Fair Creature; Woman; Angel; stop, I pray, 
'* Before your feet betray you to a sphere 
'' That may contaminate you ; for the form 
" Which greets your eyes Is that of one unfit 
*' Your presence to attend. I need not tell 
" The multitude of lesser stains that smirch 
" My hands, for I have reason to believe 
*' That In my last, dread waking thoughts, I slew 
'' A creature of my kind, and though Indeed 
" Great was my provocation, 'tis a weight 
** Upon my heart, and surely I must be 
*' Abominable to your saintly sight." 



51 



XXXIII 

She smiled, and gliding softly to my side, 
She placed her hand upon my brow, and said 
" Beloved brother, be you comforted; 
** Naught that is vile comes here. It was your 

self, 
"Your atavistic ego, that you slew; 
" The baser self that would have dragged yo\ 

back 
'* To the deep gulf whence Nature toiled so lonj 
" To raise you; and because you bravely fought 
" It is my privilege to show your eyes 
" A measure of the victory you won : 
" And since your words imply that you woulc 

know 
" A name that may address me, be content 
" To call me sister Stella, not alone 
*' In this brief Interview, but through the year 
** To come, when I shall whisper to your heart 
" And you may hear me, but shall see me not' 



sa 



XXXIV 

I answered: '* Sister Stella, eagerly 
My mind has sought the deeper mysteries 
Of Truth, and something tells me that at last 
I meet with one whose words shall greet my ear 
As water greets the lips of him who faints 
For thirst; but first relieve my mind, I pray, 
Of a dread burden of another kind '* — 



S3 



XXXV 

A tremor in my voice led me to pause 
To gain composure. Ere I could resume, 
She said: "I know the question you would 
ask: 
" Your boy is safe, and waiting, even now, 
" To meet you; thus one burden is removed: 
" To rid you of the other is, I fear 
'' Beyond my skill; for there are heights of Truth 
*' To which my wildest dreams may scarce aspire: 
" But tell me of your trouble, and perchance 
" I may, in some small measure, know the cure.'' 



54 



XXXVI 

" Dear Sister," I continued, " I would know 

" That the dense veil which hangs on every side 

'' Conceals the inner workings of a plan 

" Designed for good, and not a fiendish toy; 

" And I would know that, in this mystic plan, 

" I have a purpose; and I fain would find 

" How I may best perform my little part. 

" I sought in ancient tomes, and was dismissed 

*' With curses, as a tainted, holden fool, 

*' Because my soul rebelled at their absurd 

" And childish tyrannies; from these I turned 

" To seek an answer from Philosophy, 

" And 'neath the guidance of sage counsellors, 

" My path has only reached the fearful brink 

" Of an abyss whence I may not retreat, 

" Nor may they further guide me, for they say: 

* Here progress takes the final, fatal step 

* Into the gulf of chaos, whence it sprung; 

* In this Cyclopean Ganges, Nature casts 

* The fruits that she has labored to bring forth, 

* Through untold ages, from her fecund womb ; 

* Here Evolution lets the scepter fall, 

* And Dissolution holds her sway supreme.* " 



55 



XXXVII 

In tones that seemed to share the golden glow 
That now fell full upon her, she replied : 

* Can you, who saw a floating speck evolve, 
*Neath Nature's hand, to creatures which 

received 

* The gift of feet when their persistence earned 

* The right to walk, and likewise ears and eyes 

* When they had striven long to hear and see — 

* Can you, dear brother, doubt that, in the time 

* When Nature must consign her progeny 

* To that great chasm which affrights your soul, 

* She will provide the pinions that may soar, 

* Above its terrors, to a realm secure ? 

* In truth, there is no chaos ; all is law 

* And studied order to the Master Mind 

* That rules Creation; all the Universe 

* Is but a wondrous crucible in which 

* All matter must, in course of time, give place 

* To spirit Evolution is the fire, 

' The vivifying sacred flame that frees 

' Immured reality, and gives it wings '" 

* To pierce the ether. Dissolution's part 

* Is but redistribution of the dross 

* In combinations new, to be again, 

* And yet again, subjected to the flame, 

* Till the conversion of the final grain." 1 ' , 

S6 



XXXVIII 

I answered: " Sister of my soul, your words 
" Are deep and wondrous to my blunted ears ; 
" But something of their import I can grasp 
" When I recall that 'neath the tutelage 
" Of one great Earthly teacher, I have learned 
" That all the objects that confront my eyes 
** Are but the symbols of Reality; ^ 
" And that a subtile, everlasting force 
" Pervades all matter. If I comprehend 
" Your meaning, 'tis this great persisting force 
'* Which finds an exit o'er the altar's flame; ® 
" But tell me of the part that I perform 
" In this transfiguration, for my hands 
" Now tremble lest they blunder in their work." 



S7i 



XXXIX 

A smile seraphic lit her countenance 
As she continued: *' Brother, can it be 
' That you have traced, through atom. Earth and 

star, 
' This principle of a persistent force, 
' And recognize it not when it appears 
' In your own consciousness? If it is true 

* That force persistent is a principle 

' Which permeates all Nature, can the part 

' That streams through your own consciousness 

be lost? 
' Your office in Creation, then, is this : 
' Through consciousness alone can force forsake 
' Material environment, and rise 
To realms of spirit; ^ thus your consciousness 
' Is but the wedding of subjective force 
' With force objective; but the subtile fruit 
' Of this espousal seeks th' omniscient sea 
' The moment of its birth, and hence to you 
' Seems evanescent, though it truly lives 
' As part of that great spiritual flood 
' Which surges onward through eternity. 

* And since a symbol only can exist 

* By virtue of the substance symbolized, 
' When all Reality finds mansions new, 
The old shall crumble to nihility.' ' ^ 

58 



XL 

I further queried : " Sister, if it be 
" The plan of Nature thus to rid herself 
" Of ponderable attributes, was not 
" The transformation feasible without 
" The pain enormous that has been prescribed 
"In the creation of the instrument? 
" And does she reck, so highly of the change 
" That she would e'en preserve the agony 
" Of the expiring fawn and the fierce lust 
*' Of the destroying huntsman who makes haste 
" To gloat upon the issue of his aim, 
" The raptor's baleful passion and the throes 
" Of his unhappy victim, the depraved, 
" Pernicious cunning of the mountebank? 
" If these Indeed must evermore survive, 
" As shuddering waves upon a conscious sea, 
** O! What a curse is Immortality! " 



59 



XLI 

The golden light was fading, and perhaps 
It was the deeper purple which suffused 
Her cheek that made me fancy that I saw 
A shade of sadness pass across her face 
At mention of the word of pain; and yet 
The same sweet smile preceded this reply: 
" Dear brother, by your words you make me fear 
" That something of my meaning has been lost;) 
" And I must hasten, if I would correct 
" The error, for when yonder light departs, 
*' Twill be my summons to another sphere 
" Of duty. Brother, try to rid yourself 
" Of the vagaries that betray the thought 
" Of him who would confuse mere nothingness 
" With spirit; and your mind will then be free 
" To think of spirit as another form, 
" No less substantial though 'tis unrevealed, 
" Of that same force which manifests itself 
" In matter; ^ this prepares you to conceive ' 

" That though imponderable It may be 
" To human scales. It may, Indeed, be weighed 
" In the just balance of Infinity, 
" And has degrees In Its tenuity; 
" And granite blocks might float upon the sea 
" More easily than hate or selfishness 
" Upon the ether; these, indeed, must fall 

60 



'* And feel, again, the purifying flame. 

'* The rest is clear : pain, only, can give birth 

'* To sympathy; 'tis only sympathy 

'* That can expand to love ; 'tis only love 

'* That e'er can hope to reach the heights sublime 

" Where truth, revealed in all her beauty, grants 

'* Felicitous communion with her soul. 

'* Dear brother, I must go, but 'ere we part, 

'' My lyre shall, a moment, lull your heart." 



6i 



XLII 

She drew a lyre from her flowing robe, 
And as her fingers lightly swept the strings, 
There came a weirdly beautiful response, 
In wild and broken rhythm that, at first, 
Pursued each perturbation of my mind 
Until it seemed to seize upon my soul; 
Then gently, imperceptibly, it led 
Into a crooning melody; the lids 
Drooped o'er my eyes; the music died away 
To a faint whisper; like a weary child 
I raised my arms ; it may have been the cloud 
That touched my forehead; and I slept again. 



62 



CANTO FOURTH 

The Reunion 

XLIII 

I next unclosed my eyes to see 

The bright, green sward, the fallen tree, 

The scattered crumbs, that showed where last 

My child had joined me in repast. 

But how can I express the joy 

I felt when I beheld the boy 

Emerging from the woody glen; 

Or when my eager arms again 

His form encircled? When my heart 

Could bear him a slight space apart, 

I heard him artlessly narrate 

His story, which I thus restate: 



63 



XLIV 

" Why, father, when I sang the song 

" And poured the water, a great throng 

" Of wicked, little men appeared 

" And tried to catch me, and I feared 

" They would, for though my feet ran fast, 

" They gained upon me; but at last 

" A lovely lady seemed to rise 

" Just in my path, and when her eyes 

" Looked on the dwarfs, I saw that they 

" Grew much afraid, and ran away. 

" Then when I cried, she dried my tears 

" And held me until all my fears 

" Had vanished, and beneath some charm, 

" I fell asleep upon her arm. 

" When I awoke, she brought me near, 

" And showed the path that led me here." 



64 



O I Spirit of Poesy, scarce may I raise 
My glance to solicit a token of praise, 
As how to thy favor I humbly consign 
This tribute unworthy to lay at thy shrine : 
Yet great my reward, if but one yearning heart 
Be touched by a faith, that my song may impart. 
In that distant day when thy lute shall awake 
With harmony meet for thine ear to partake; 
When fingers supernal shall stray o'er its 

strings. 
With exquisite touch, till the Universe rings 
In one great, ecstatic, mellifluous chord. 
With cadence that melts in the voice of the 

Lord. 



65 



NOTES 



NOTES 

^ The word " dwarfish " and Its synonyms are 
all words of such elastic meaning that the author has not 
found any one word precisely suited to the meaning that 
he would convey by this word as it appears in the text, and 
therefore finds it expedient to resort to a note on this point. 
The reader is requested to frame the idea, not of creatures 
oi Lilliputian stature; nor even of those unfortunate and 
extremely rare specimens of humanity who are of such 
diminutive size as to pass under the appellation *' freaks " ; 
but of that less rare class to be met with in the ordinary 
avocations of human life, whose stature is stunted to a 
degree sufficient only to excite passing comment. This 
will be found necessary In the reading of stanza XXX, in 
order to give an Idea of approximate equality in strength 
to the contestants In the combat there mentioned. With 
this in mind, it need hardly be added that the words 
*' Minim," *' pigmy," &c., appearing in stanza XXIX, 
are to be read as opprobrious epithets hurled at the moral, 
rather than at the physical, littleness of the dwarf ad- 
dressed in that stanza. 

^ This form of the word, although possibly archaic, 
suggests itself to the author as more appropriate to the 
sense in which it is here used than the more common 
spelling. 

* Note description of the overhanging brows of the 
dwarfs, in stanza XI. 

* He who has read the " Synthetic Philosophy " of 
Mr. Herbert Spencer need scarcely be told that most of 

69 



the allusions to the teachings of philosophy, appearing in 
this section, have reference to that great work. The 
whole poem was, in fact, undertaken with the view of 
showing what Mr. Spencer has himself repeatedly inti- 
mated; that the theory of evolution is not incompatible 
with a faith in a benign plan of creation. 

^Spencer's First Principles — Chap, xxlv. Sec. 194. 

^ ..." by the indestructibility of Matter, we really 
mean the Indestructibility of the force with which matter 
affects us." First Principles — Chap, iv, Sec. 54. 

^ Some hint of this was suggested to the author by 
the reading of Sec. 71c, Chap. VIII, of the work already 
mentioned; and It Is only one of several beautiful hypoth- 
eses that might be raised on the foundation of the hint thus 
afforded. 

Read, also. Chapters 16, 17, 18 and 19 of the General 
Analysis, Vol. II, Principles of Psychology. 

* This is, of course, a proposition of the class that admits 
of no concrete conception. If the ability to form a concrete 
conception be accepted as the ultimate criterion of the 
legitimate bounds of philosophic speculation. It may be 
doubted whether the " Transfigured Realism " of Mr. 
Spencer is. Itself, rested on a legitimate foundation, to say 
nothing of the many other systems of philosophy that have 
claimed the attention of the thinking world. It is need- 
less, however, to enter Into such a question. If such a 
criticism should be raised. It would be sufficient answer to 
say that the work of the author is intended as a poem, and 
not as a formal treatise on philosophy; and this, alone, is 
sufficient license for the author to enter into realms of 

70 



speculation that are denied to the writer who treats the 
subject from a demonstrable, or semi-demonstrable, stand- 
point. In fact, this license is admitted by the great 
philosopher, himself, when he says: " The momentum of 
thought carries us beyond conditioned existence to uncon- 
ditioned existence; and this ever persists in us as the body 
of a thought to which we can give no shape." First 
Principles, Chap. 4, Sec. 26. 

^ This, the author believes, is in full harmony with the 
theory of Transfigured Realism. 



71 



I 



X107 



